Unknowns of the Rest (of their lives)
by leeniwa
Summary: anxious Wirt, and a sweet mystery driven Dipper in a story filled with love yet most likely mystery and a soon to be changed summary because, alas, it's not very poetic
1. the night's synopsis

_1:06 AM_

 _In a hotel room a few hours away from home_

The Unknown was a place that haunted Wirt's dreams even years after he and his most important person, Greg, his brother, luckily escaped. The stubborn personality of Beatrice, the old-timely but also somehow uncannily _sweet_ people were overshadowed by dreams of The Beast lavishing them all in his horrors. Wirt shuddered to think of a world where Greg was left as a willowing tree in the cold forest… no more exploring, no more excited smiles… instead dim and dark and nowhere to be found.

Wirt winced as he turned over. There was a crick in the back of his neck from staying up late reading poetry he brought from home.

"Wirt?" Greg whispered.

"Yes, Greg?"

"… you don't have to be scared anymore… I'll protect you! With Jason Funderburker by our side, Captain, no one can defeat us!" He exclaimed, making a tiny fist and determined expression.

"Shh! Everyone's still asleep, you don't want to wake them, do you?" Wirt shout-whispered back. Despite what his proclamation, Wirt felt incredibly warm after hearing Greg, and while he felt guilty about not being a very good older brother to him, he was going to do his best to be the best brother he could be and protect him. Without Greg, truth be told Wirt wasn't sure if he'd be able to function as well as he did.

Greg tiredly nodded. He must have only wakened from Wirt's restless squirming, the older assessed. He smiled softly and reached a hand from his bed to Greg's bed aside from his and ruffled Greg's hair. "Goodnight, brother o' mine."

"G'night bro' o' mine, maybe if we're lucky we'll see Beatrice someday with her family!"

Despite being struck with anxiety at the thought of the Unknown, Wirt chuckled softly. "Maybe, now get some rest."

They both settled into their respective beds and soon soft snores filled the room as the moonlight peered in from the window and kissed their skin. The night was calm and the crickets chirped faraway in the night as the leaves blew throughout the starry sky and for once in a long time, Wirt forgot his nightmares and snuggled his pillow in his sleep, mumbling melodically about something no one else knew but him.


	2. ready for an adventure?

_A new dawn_

Their parents had told them to get on a little get-a-way after their less than happy year, and in their own way of being concerned trying to get them in a good place to enjoy the world around them, so Wirt and Greg's summer was shaping up to be another adventure with no choice on their part. But at least Greg was excited—and in a way that dispelled any of the too anxious voices in Wirt's head and he twitched his eye a bit, but he hadn't really expected much anyways.

Not that his mother and step-father were bad people, no, they were just being kept extremely in the dark and the unconsciously near but nowhere to be found "Unknown", they weren't sure how to handle Wirt's new protective, hidden but strangely grown and adult personality. They wanted him to find his childish self again, after all he wasn't very old and while he was still lovingly awkward and soothingly poetic, this new adult manifestation seemed to come a bit too soon after their release from the Lakeville hospital. While nonetheless still Wirt, and that he was shaping up to be a caring young man, there was simply more to life than wallowing. And so his mother sleepily smiled at the two in the morning and ushered them to the porch.

Greg waved around a stick as his mother sloppily kissed him on the cheek and strongly told him to _"behave"_ and to listen to Wirt, with his father leaning down to give him a small hug. Wirt solemnly nodded at them with a small wave and smiled at Greg, taking his hand and leading him outside. Wirt's step-father nodding shortly nodding at him before going back inside the house, leading his mother by the hand and shutting the door.

And so they were off.

"Adventure! Adventure! Adventure!" Greg waved the magic wand, or the stick Wirt mumbled, and pulled out Jason Funderburker out of his shirt's front pocket. "Are you ready to see the world? I wonder if we'll see any—any unicorns, or dancing rats? Oh! Or maybe even singing frogs like we did before, huh—"

"No! We are certainly _not_ seeing any dancing rats or-or any… singing frogs like-like before." Wirt admonished waving his hands.

"Pshh, _safe_." Greg huffed looking around to see the graveyard they'd found the Unknown in so long ago.

The day was still young, and it was as harmless as any regular graveyard should look like and be, but there was a chill in the air and an incredible feeling of unbreathable nostalgia and Wirt felt his throat constrict at the sight of Greg leaning in to go inside the gates. Feeling the incredible urge to wrap Greg up in his arms and never let go he grabbed Greg's hand and lead him away from the graveyard urgently.

"No. Greg, no… not today… We have new places to visit and explore, right Captain?" Wirt tried to hide his less-then-friendly emotions of the graveyard and slapped a smile onto his face.

"That's right Second Lieutenant worry Wirt!" Greg laughed, bopping Wirt on the nose with the magic stick. "It'll be okay."

Wirt always forgot how long it had been since they'd left Beatrice and the woods keeper, and why he felt so attached to their ever so elusive memories, but it never felt quite so long with Greg standing taller and growing up besides him. Soon he'd be leaving to go and find his life, and never had Wirt felt so small yet impossibly full.

"Yeah. I know."


End file.
